The Three Offices of Christ in Christology: An Ecumenical Contribution to the History of Theological Thinking

Based on an analysis, interpretation, and comparison of selected texts, the author points out key moments in the constitution of Christ’s threefold office in the history of Christian thought. She presents the main ideas of individual theologians on the subject and compares them. She focuses, in the first part, on the threefold anointing of Christ in the work of Eusebius of Caesarea. The second, longest part deals with sixteenth century texts from the Lutheran, Reformed, and Catholic traditions in which the threefold office of Christ appears. John Calvin first used it as part of his doctrine of salvation. The author then discusses the reception of this concept in Catholic dogmatic manuals, specifically by E. Klüpfel and M. J. Scheeben. In the fourth part, she discusses the ideas of two twentieth century theologians – S. N. Bulgakov, a representative of Russian Orthodoxy, and W. Kasper, a Catholic. In conclusion, she attempts to evaluate and systematically summarize the theme. Finally, she asks whether a Christian’s participation in Christ’s prophetic, priestly, and kingly mission, within the Church and in the world, could serve as a basis for ecumenical dialogue.

Keywords: Christology; the Three Offices of Christ (munus Christi triplex); Catholic Theology; Reformed Theology; Lutheran Theology; Theological Anthropology